All season long, Wisconsin fans have known they have two possible Heisman candidates. Yet, due to the free agent signing of Russell Wilson, most of the national attention had been on him. It is deservedly so, Russell has been almost perfect and has the highest passing efficiency in the country. Yet, up until recently, I haven’t even heard whispers of Montee Ball and Heisman in the same sentence unless you were talking to fellow Badger fans. Yet this week, with the fall of Kellen Moore and Andrew Luck, the Heisman race has become wide open.
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| Montee powers his way into the end-zone for one of his 27 touchdowns. |
However, it should not have taken the fall of these two superstars for Montee to be given some Heisman love. For weeks Ball has been leading the nation in touchdowns and has been putting up numbers similar to Trent Richardson, the only running back getting numerous Heisman votes. Including yesterday, Montee has had over 100 all-purpose yards in every game and has scored at least two touchdowns every week. That is one stat that Trent Richardson cannot even boast. In fact, there are four games in which Trent only had one touchdown or less. The argument that Bama fans will give is that Trent has faced tougher opposition. Although this might be true, each back has played three currently ranked teams.
A strong argument for any Heisman hopeful is to break records. After all, Case Kenneum started to receive Heisman votes because every week he seems to be breaking some record. Yet if strength of schedule should hurt anyone, it should be Case as the Cougars SOS is 110/120. Just like Kenneum, Montee is breaking a few records of his own. After yesterday’s game, he surpassed three former Big Ten players for the most touch downs in a season. Although, it’s a long shot, he still could beat Barry Sander’s record of 37 touchdowns in one season. He will have to have three or four scores over the next three games (includes Big Ten Championship), which is not out of the question. He already had five games this season with three or more scores.
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| Montee has had no problem running through defenders all season long. |
Clearly Montee has the stats to bolster a cause for the Heisman. As mentioned, he leads the nation in touchdowns. He has the second most rushing yards out of any BCS conference running back with 1,242. He is only behind Virginia Tech’s David Wilson, yet Ball has more all-purpose yards with an added 234 receiving yards. By the looks of it, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Montee finish the season with at least 1,500 rushing yards and 350 receiving yards. If you match those numbers with the last running back to win the Heisman, Mark Ingram, it is pretty much spot on. Ingram finished his sophomore year with 1,658 rushing yards and 334 receiving yards with a total of 20 touch downs. And let’s not forget about the kicker for Montee, he has a throwing touchdown to Russell Wilson.
Before yesterday, it was understandable why Ball was not getting any Heisman love. After this week, it will be downright insane if he does not have one vote. The only down side for Ball is that Russell will be taking some of his votes away. As a Badger fan that is fine with me, because I would rather see those two deliver us a Rose Bowl trophy compared to a Heisman trophy. Either way, I would expect to see Russell or Montee to be in New York as a finalist. If it is not Montee, he can always come back next year to make an even stronger case.
It's the case where Wilson and Ball cancel each other out. The 2002 Heisman, Willis McGahee and Ken Dorsey finished 4th and 5th in the voting respectively because they took votes from each other on a Miami team that played for the National Championship. I don't think Ball and Wilson can distinguish themselves enough from each other on a two loss team to garner a trip to New York.
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ReplyDeleteIt's true, but I do expect to see Ball getting a vote where he was not before. I would not be surprised to see Russell in New York as he was seventh in voting before and will probably move up this week after a near perfect performance. He already has been getting some attention.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.uwbadgers.com/blog/2011/11/the-case-for-russell-wilson.html
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/heisman
Post from Jesse:
ReplyDelete"also. montee ball, though awesome, doesnt have the crazy highlight reel plays that a hesiman winner needs to win the best baller award. The holes that he gets to run through are bigger than nasser's expletive. Because he runs mostly downhill and is untouched due to our massive o-line hes not going to get the highlights of broken tackles and broken ankles that heisman voters love. YOu need to take top plays and bring attention to yourself. unfortunately for him, his humbleness works against him here."